2016 POTD Thread Archive

[NCjeeper]

I made a couple of welding clamps. Saw Chuck (Outside Screwball) do it on his Youtube channel. I started with Harbor Freight "F" clamps. No need to waste a good set of Bessey clamps. Cut off the tops and welded on 1" plugs that I threaded 1/2-13.

 

[kvt]

Nice clamps, Looks like they should hold stuff down good. Don't have a welding table at current, no place to put it.

 

[dave_r_1]

Bought a new blower blade unit for my zero turn bagger, and spent a couple hours reinforcing the blade tips by first welding on a backing plate, then welding on a support brace.


Also remade the shield shown in http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/created-shield-for-bagging-blower-housing.46393/ using 14 gauge sheet metal instead of 1/8" steel, to make the blower unit lighter. Seems to have done the trick. I was using the new blower housing while making the replacement shield, but I installed it in the old damaged housing, reassembled everything into the old housing, and now it should work as good as new, except it looks terrible. Guess I'll have to name it "Scar".

 

[intjonmiller]

 

[Charles Spencer]

I'd also consider replacing the screws with some of known quality.

 

[chevydyl]

Cool vise dude, but, I'm gonna mention the grinding looks terrible.... is your wheel out of round or something? Maybe it's just the picture but it looks really scalloped, not that YOU did a bad job but maybe the wheel or machine....
That's a project I've always wanted to do

 

[MozamPete]

Picked up a part Myford ML7 for spares, including an original Myford cabinet which will look great under my lathe once I have a chance to tidy it up and repaint it.

 

[intjonmiller]

Cool vise dude, but, I'm gonna mention the grinding looks terrible.... is your wheel out of round or something? Maybe it's just the picture but it looks really scalloped, not that YOU did a bad job but maybe the wheel or machine....
That's a project I've always wanted to do

That's just the first run with a 60 grit wheel. Single pass per full-revolution step. Not going for perfect finish yet. I'm going to hit all the sides of all the parts with that one and then move up to a finer grit. I have 60, 80, 100, 150, and 220. I'm thinking 100 or so should be great for this. The 60 grit wheel has been trued, but there are several chips on the edge that go far enough that it didn't make sense to me to remove enough of the wheel to eliminate them. (It still rings well, so I'm not concerned about it fracturing.)

I was just very excited to finally run a part on it after a year of working around the machine, and only actually using it to store sawdust. (I now have a tarp for each of my wood and metal machines, so I can keep them covered when using the others.)

 

[intjonmiller]

Oh, and I didn't make the vise. I bought it from a machinist apprentice who made it out of 1018 because apparently he didn't intend to ever use it. He got credit for making it before grinding it. I only paid like $40, and it's a good (not perfect) practice piece for my grinding skills. I wish he had left me a little more meat considering his surface finish. It measured in various spots from 1.005" down to 0.996". It is now a consistent 0.995" everywhere, according to my micrometer. (I don't own a test indicator or surface plate yet, though I do have a very good piece of thick glass.) I wish I could have finished at 1.000", just because.

 

[intjonmiller]

The minimum charge for case hardening from my local heat treat shop well exceeds the cost of buying a completed, hardened, decent steel vise, and I don't have a good setup for doing it myself yet. But I'm only expecting to use it for grinding as I don't own a mill, so it should hold up pretty well with care.